Celebrate 45 years since man's first steps on moon

FILE - This July 20, 1969 file photo provided by NASA shows Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface. Apollo 11 astronauts trained on Earth to take individual photographs in succession in order to create a series of frames that could be assembled into panoramic images. This frame from Aldrin's panorama of the Apollo 11 landing site is the only good picture of mission commander Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface. Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the moon, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs. In all, 12 Americans walked on the moon from 1969 to 1972. (AP Photo/NASA, Buzz Aldrin, File)

Forty-five years ago Sunday, Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on another world. Armstrong's "one small step ... one giant leap" on the dusty lunar surface July 20, 1969, still stirs hearts.

You can join the celebration, without needing to travel to the launch site at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, where NASA will honor Armstrong on Monday with a renaming ceremony of the historic Operations and Checkout Building. Both Aldrin and Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 command module pilot who orbited the moon, will be there.

At the very least, walk out and wink at the moon this weekend.

"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request," the Armstrong family said in a statement after his death in 2012. "Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

Some other easy ways to get swept up in moon fever:

—Follow along on Twitter as the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum recreates, in 140 characters or less per tweet, the eight-day flight, which began with the Saturn V liftoff on July 16, 1969, and ended with a Pacific spashdown on July 24, 1969

—Tune in to NASA TV via cable, satellite or computer late Sunday night. The space agency will broadcast restored footage of Armstrong and Aldrin's lunar footsteps, beginning at 10:39 p.m. EDT, the exact time Armstrong opened the Eagle's hatch 45 years ago. Take pleasure in knowing this is the first major Apollo 11 anniversary in which the events fall on the same day of the week as they did in 1969.

—Check out your local science museum or planetarium for anniversary events. The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City, for example, has a bevy of astronauts on tap as part of its space and science festival. Aldrin is the featured speaker Friday. The five-day festival runs through Sunday.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will have an appearance Sunday by former astronaut Bruce McCandless, who served as the Mission Control capsule communicator, or capcom, in Houston as Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon. It's his voice that the moonwalkers heard. McCandless later went on to his own fame as the free-flying, untethered spaceman who tested NASA's manned maneuvering unit, or jetpack, during a shuttle flight in 1984.

The USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, California, also has nabbed Aldrin for its 45th anniversary festivities — Splashdown 45 — next Saturday, July 26. The aircraft carrier recovered the Apollo 11 crew and capsule, the Columbia, from the Pacific following splashdown. President Richard Nixon was on board to welcome Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins home.

—Slooh Observatory will broadcast high-definition images of the lunar surface Sunday night, along with a panel discussion, beginning at 8:30 P.M. EDT.

—Pull out the popcorn and relive NASA's early glory days through documentaries and films. Some choices: "The Right Stuff" from 1983, "For All Mankind" documentary from 1989, "Apollo 13" from 1995, "From the Earth to the Moon" TV miniseries from 1998, and "The Dish" from 2000, certainly the funniest and sweetest as it chronicles Australia's key role in the moon landing.

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